Kurulay: “I had to work hard to design halal clothes”

It’s very important to pay attention to your inner world during the holy month of Ramadan. It’s necessary to observe the fast, to improve your life, to avoid sins, but it’s also very important to be dressed in a proper way. VK correspondent Olesya Pelageina asked Kazakh fashion designer Kurulay to say a few words about how a Muslim woman can dress.

- A lot of girls nowadays believe in fairy tales. They keep waiting for a handsome prince who will come for them in a luxurious white car and take them to his marble palace on the Mediterranean cost. Why does this happen?

- We can live in fairy tale if we want to. To create a fairy tale out of your own life is very hard work. One can wait for a prince a whole life without doing anything. Everything depends on you yourself. I've had hard times and I came to understand this.

- The Holy Prophet says that prophets leave knowledge instead of palaces and gold. According to the Scripture, it’s very important to learn things and to teach others. However, a lot of Muslim girls nowadays think that education and a career is indecent for a Muslim woman. How do you manage to make such great achievements?

- The belief you spoke about is a common misconception. In fact, history has always proved how bright and talented women are. Do you remember the tales of a thousand and one nights? Women outshone men in intelligence. Ali-Baba’s wife saved the whole family. Women should be educated in today’s world.

- How do you manage to be a mother, a wife and a fashion designer at the same time? What can you advise young girls?

- First of all, I managed to stop believing in miracles. I would say that one will always find what one is looking for. I have achieved a lot of things and I’m very proud of them. I learnt how to be a mother, a wife and a career-oriented woman at one and the same time. One should always complain and cry. Don’t wait for it, do it! I’m an ordinary cosmopolitan woman, still I’m a Muslim and a Kazakh.

- At the last Islamic Fashion Festival you presented a new collection called “Nisa”. It was presented as part of a Muslim fashion line. Were these clothes in fact halal?

- Yes. The festival was held in Astana as a part of the Islamic International Forum project. Our women have just started to wear such clothes. Many of them don’t not how to wear such clothes, they don’t know what is allowed and what is prohibited. I had to work hard to produce truly halal clothes.

- There are Arab princesses among your clients, what can you tell us about the last trends in Islamic fashion?

- Not long ago I went to Malaysia to dress a princess for her wedding. A lot of Saudi princes and princesses, sheikhs from other Arab countries and Indian royals were present at the ceremony. You know, I have never seen so much jewellery in my entire life. The way all these ladies were dressed was unbelievable. Women in the East dress like nowhere else.

Saudi women believe they are goddesses. Almost literally. That’s why they cover all their body, so that no one can see them. Do you know how they take care of their body? They spend hours imbibing valuable oils with their skin. That’s why I don’t like when people talk about “oppressed eastern women.” Islam has nothing to do with violence and intimidation.

- Is it possible to design halal clothes suitable for big cities? Young girls who have to work and go by subway can hardly wear high heels and long dresses.

- That’s true. It’s hard even to see the stairs wearing a long dress, but a girl wearing extremely high heels will manage to wear a long dress as well.

- You travel a lot. What Islamic and non-Islamic countries influenced your creative work?

- Oh, there’s so much to tell about! I’m now working on an Eli Saab and Zukhair Murada-like collection. I’m going to bring it to Saudi Arabia.

Interview by Olesya Pelageina. Exclusively to VK